Tuesday Tips: Make it useful: creative ways to use photography

I've been wanting to spend more time writing about the little tips, tricks, and insights that I have come across while exploring the vast world of photography. I want to do this for several reasons: to keep track of the things I learn so I can reference them when in need *(I have 'Mommy brain'), I want to give myself a deeper focus and reason to continue trying new things, I want to share what I have learned with people I know. The teacher in me feels a deep need to pass a little knowledge down the line. Maybe it's so that I can keep taking knowledge from up the line? anyways, I am going to try and post a tip, trick, idea, or something interesting here at least once a week. The key word in that last sentence is 'try' I just might fail, but eh. so what? Trying is a good place to start.

So (drum roll please) Photography Tip #1: Make it Useful!

Many of you know that I just had a baby, 3 months ago. She is my second child, my first girl. In the shuffle of welcoming a newborn into our home I have had to really re-prioritize. wait, not re-prioritize, lets call it, "give up my entire life, interest, and hobbies, for the greater good." What? you think I'm being dramatic? well, so does my husband, and you are both right. I am. Still, the lifestyle shift from one to two kids has really got me thinking about what I want to do with what little snippets of time I have. Photography is one of those skills that I want to keep nurturing even when life gets crazy. With so many other things to do I have found that combining photography with things that I have to do anyways brings me great joy! I'll give you two recent examples:


I wanted to do something creative and fun for valentine's Day with Browen. I was blog stalking on the Internet and found this idea. I thought it was fun and simple and got excited because it allowed me to use my camera and photoshop to create a unique little valentine. Bro got a kick out of giving some of his friends this picture of his cute self. Now I already have plans for next year's creative photo Valentine!

Another idea I came up with was to create thank you cards for those who attended a baby shower for Andi and I in November. I thought it would be extra special to give a thank you card that had a photo of Andi on it. It was fun to plan out a quick newborn shoot in natural light. I also really liked the way that the photo I chose looked with the textured card stock that I used to back the card. It was a fun craft because it fed two of my addictions; photography AND card making.
P.S. I still have a stack of these thank you cards on my desk that I wrote before Christmas and need to deliver (I know, I am slow like a snail :)



And then the best part was that I got to take more pictures of these 2 items, to post on this blog. So there, more photography practice on inanimate objects, more photo-joy for me.
Some other things I plan to do that incorporate photography and are: A fine art print of one of my favorite buildings for my living room, and an ABC book of Bro's favorite things.
I found these interesting creative photo ideas online too:
http://woollywotnots.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/my-creative-space-8-fun-things-to-do-with-photos/
http://growingcreativekids.com/creative-things-to-do-with-photos/
http://bighugelabs.com/
What are some ideas that you guys have? Would you do/have you done any of these things with pictures you have taken?
P.S. Don't forget to enter the St. Patrick's Day Giveaway!
*Mommy Brain [Mom-ee]: the complete lack of ability to remember anything. Usually occurring after giving birth to first child, and increasing in severity with each subsequent child's birth.